Our Nature Journaling Supply List

I've had several people asking me what I'm using for "curriculum" for nature journaling, and just wanting to know more specifics of what I'm doing.  So, here's the scoop:

This book is my "spine" for our nature journaling curriculum.  I LOVE Clare Walker Leslie's books and teaching style!  In fact, this is not the only book of her's that I have, but this one is written with children in mind, but I find it is just as useful for adults.  It is laid out seasonally as well as month-by-month with specific activities outlined and demonstrated, as well as general suggestions for nature observation for every month of the year.  The appendix lists multiple resources for furthering your study, and I am pulling from a number of these to further beef up our study, if that was even necessary!  But I'll get to those later.  This book, though, is fabulous!

This is March's excerpt for "extras".  While some of these ideas are for serious study, others are just plain fun activities inviting kids to just enjoy being outside and enjoying nature.

I'm still learning to use the binoculars.  I prefer the naked eye for siting birds, but I think the eyes ain't what they used to be, and definitely not as good as God initially designed them to be!  So, we're working on that with aid of the binoculars.  The magnifying glass comes in handy when inspecting a bug or feather for details. Also, I should tell you that we always have a jar or container of some sort right by our porch containing some kind of critter.  Containers usually go along with us whenever we're doing some exploring.

My nature journal is a 7x7 bound, unlined paper book.  Next one will be bigger, but this is great for small illustrations for the purpose of learning.  The smaller journal is my bird life list book.

My son's journal and bird life list book.  While the journal is smaller than I like, it is also serving well as a first journal.  (It is the green book, 4x6, unlined.)

And my daughter's books.

More of Clare Walker Leslie's books that I refer to:

The "Old Farmer's Almanac" is a great yearly resource with all KINDS of nature-related tables and information.  It is recommended in Clare's book, and is helpful when trying to schedule specific things (field trips).  I found mine at my grocery store in the magazine section.

 Below are some of the best birding books out there, in my opinion.  The book on the right is helpful in bird identification, and the one on the left is chock-full of amazing details about birds in general and specific.  It is fascinating to read!

That being said, we will be heavily using Field Guides with our science.  In my opinion, it is one thing to have art class and draw something that you see, but if you have no idea what you're looking at, what good will it do you tomorrow, next year?  My reason for doing nature journaling in the first place was to help my kids and myself learn about what is around us and why it's there and why it's changing.  Thus, the field guides are utterly important in this nature journaling quest!

I started out collecting the little field guides with the basic, most common specimens.  I found this frustrating, as much of what we were seeing was not in the books.  I then went to the internet and searched for information and identification this way.  While this method works, I do like having actual books for when we're out in the field.  So my collection of full-volume books is slowly growing:

Here are the "kiddy" ones:

For our journaling, I've gotten "mine" and "their's" supplies.  These water colors are inexpensive, and perfect for learning how to control the amount of water, mixing, etc.  They're cheap enough that if the kids waste half the tube, I won't have a coronary.  The brushes are really nifty, in that they hold the water, and you just squeeze the brush to get the water to come out to the brush.  Pretty cool!

Nicer colored pencils, not too expensive when bought with your 40% off coupon at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

These are the kids' watercolor pencils.  I didn't understand what these were at first, but basically, you color your picture with the pencils, and then use a water brush and blend it all together, making it look really like a painted watercolor.  Makes it easy for the kids.

 My watercolor pencils, also not too terribly priced when you use your 40% coupon:

I'll not lie.  These were expensive.  Even with the coupon.  But they are SO, SO nice!  And they are all mine.  I WOULD have a coronary if the kids took over them.  ;)  That tiny brush is all I need most of the time in my journaling, too.  And the whole thing folds up to 2 1/2"X5", so is super portable for field work.  (It's Windsor and Newton, if you were trying to read the blurry fine print.)

Drawing pencils and pens of varying size and hardness, as well as an eraser and pencil sharpener fit neatly into a little pouch where they don't get lost.

I recently got a place fixed up in the hall for all our "finds".  I am not able to take a picture of it as the space is tight where it is, but basically I've hung two 4-foot shelves up, giving us plenty of space to display some of our "treasures".  I got the kids each a 12"x12" shadow box for them to display their favorites in.  A jar for each of them also sits on the shelves, where they put collections for future displays.  When they want to change it out, we'll get a piece of scrapbook paper for the back, and glue or pin on their arrangement.  They are so proud of their collections!  I'm anxious to see how they change over the year.  Also on this wall is space to hang favorite drawings or show off other creations and nature finds.  It's truly a happy place for all of us!

This is my daughter's shadow box:

And my son's (And yes, that is snake skin from probably 5 different snakes, pinned together to look like one, with all the little bits pinned down as well.  He has plans to keep it after he takes this display apart, thus I was not allowed to help him glue it down.):

Specific questions I've been asked:

1. Q:  Do I have {lesson} plans or am I just scheduling time for it and drawing what I happen to see?

    A:  I have made up my own lesson plans based on "The Nature Connection" guidelines.  I have worked           specific things into our weekly schedule, planning for 30 minutes 3-4 times/week. 

2.  Q:  Are you working specifically within one area (i.e. animals, plants) or all at once or seasonally?

     A:  Clare's book is divided up mostly seasonally or monthly.  She encourages observation of, say, animals                at different times of the year (hibernation/migration/nesting).  One month will look at stars/constellations, while another month she puts emphasis on the various kinds of grasses.  She also uses charts and graphs to track weather-related issues, like how much rain in a specific month; temperature; tracking the sun's path during seasonal changes, etc.  

3.  Q:  Are you using any curriculum supplements?

     A:  Aside from the field guides and other things mentioned above, yes, we are doing a few other things.  Under "Inspiration" on the bar on the right, we are regularly keeping up with other nature journaling artists, and I would love to take the kids to a workshop sometime if we are fortunate to find one close to us.  Also in the bar on the right under "Nature Websites", we will be participating in "Project Feeder Watch", pick a few projects through "Journey North", and set up our own "Wildlife Watch" list.   Each of these things has an extensive plan for learning and observing the nature around you, as well as suggested activities and specific information.  We will set up each of these (that we're using) at the beginning of the month, and track changes/progress throughout the extent of the project.

If you have further questions, please feel free to leave a comment, and I will add to this post as I can.  We appreciate your interest in our project so much!  If you start your own nature journaling project and are able to share by blog, let us know where you're at and we will happily follow you and add you to our list of "inspiration"!